Menu Plan

Menu planning has really been helping me to stay out of a cooking rut, and to use my groceries/pantry items effectively!

Here goes for this week:

Monday: Foil Wrapped Oriental Chicken w/Rice and frozen stirfried veggies

I have some slightly freezer burned, sale purchased, boneless skinless chicken breasts. I try not to use boneless skinless for any recipes that require the meat to be shredded or chopped-why not use other, cheaper cuts of meat if you are just going to hack it up? So I did a quick search of recently reviewed recipes at Recipezaar.com (searching by ingredient “chicken”) and found this likely candidate. The “pouch” method should hide the bit of freezer burn, along with the sauce. Because I’m weird that way, I already have hoisin sauce on hand, I’ll use part of a bag of frozen red/yellow/green peppers instead of fresh, canned mushrooms, and plain old onion instead of the green onion.

Tuesday: Cabbage Roll Casserole w/salad and bread

I’ll use the leftover rice from Monday, then some defrosted ground venison and the 3/4 of a head of cabbage that’s been sitting on my counter for a week. I’ll probably make a double batch and freeze one for a mom I know who has recently had surgery. (broken hip and 2 small kids. ick). The salad will be a green salad with some of the reserved cabbage, lettuce, carrots, and some dried tomatoes that I froze. I’ll make fresh bread in the breadmaker-or if I feel up to it maybe some rolls or biscuits

Wednesday: Baked Salmon, Mashed Potatoes, Canned Veggies

Our friends gave us 2 huge packages of salmon that they caught last summer. I may dress it up with a bit of teriyaki sauce. I’ve got a bag of potatoes going to sprout downstairs, so I’ll boil and mash a bunch, specifically making extra for Friday.

Thursday: Nothing

Hosting a ladies party (or as YB calls it “a hen party”) at my house, Yankee Bill taking the kids out for dinner.

Friday: Homemade Gnocchi w/ Meat sauce, undetermined veggies, garlic bread

I’ll probably make the gnocchi Wed with the leftover mashed potatoes, and I’ll make the meat sauce with some of the ground venison that I’m pulling out for Tues’s cabbage rolls. I’ll use homemade bread to make the garlic bread from.

Sat: Pizza Night, Pickles

You can’t go wrong with a pizza night! I might dig some ham out of the freezer and open a can of pineapple to introduce the kids to “Hawaiian Pizza” alongside our regular pepperoni and cheese. Pickles count as a veggie, right?

Sunday: Buffet Night

Otherwise know as leftovers. Hey, you’ve got to use that stuff up somehow


Head on over to the Organizing Junkie to see more Menu Plans.